Chapter 48: A Short Spar

Author's Note:I’ve received a comprehensive evaluation of 30,000pt!
This is all thanks to your guys’ support!

「Haahhh!」
「Fuu!」
『Dangerous! This is seriously dangerous!』

Amanda’s whip strikes where Fran had just been standing.

*DoGOoOoO*

That isn’t the power of a whip! It’s more like some sort of giant mallet was thrown into the fray, sinking the ground in!

「Ahahaha! That’s the way, Fran!」
「……!」

We’re caught completely in Amanda’s pace. Fran’s been obstructed by that transcendent-quality whip right from the start, so it’s impossible to get in close.

As expected of an A Rank Adventurer. I had thought that we could have a good match, but I was making light of her.

『That whip sure is troublesome…』

Only defensive movement can be taken to block its attacks, which come from any angle. The strikes are ever-changing, and infinite in variety. Sometimes, the attacks can come in the form of heavy-hitting blunt strikes, sometimes they can cut clean through rocks, and sometimes, not even sound can keep up with them. Frankly speaking, it’s strange that Fran hasn’t been defeated already.

That might be too high a target… Amanda hasn’t even moved from her starting position, after all.

She’s already peerless when it comes to the whip, but it should be kept in mind that Amanda’s Job is Champion of Storms, meaning she’s fully capable of using the higher form of Wind Magic: Storm Magic. However, she has yet to use any magic whatsoever. In other words, she hasn’t considered it necessary to do so.

Even if I observe her flow of magic using the Sorcery Skill, there’s no change. And, on top of not using any magic, she hasn’t even used any Whip Techniques, giving a looming feeling of dread.

However, Fran isn’t ordinary either. Gradually, she’s getting used to the movements of the whip. The distance between her and Amanda is growing shorter.

「Now!」
「Naïve!」
「Predicted.」
「Mu–! You did it, huh!」

Maybe the mock battle was worth it, after all? Fran reached a position where I could almost reach Amanda.

Finally, after five minutes since the battle began, Amanda was forced to move her legs. Fran, receiving an immense amount of bloodthirst, takes some distance once again.

「Ah, pardon me. It seems that the naïve one was me.」
「Nn.」
「…… Sh!」
「–Bu」
「It’s the first time in a while that I needed to dodge in a fight.」

With her whip undulating like a snake, Amanda launches herself at Fran. Her movement is just like a snake. Furthermore, the presence of magic was felt from whatever Skill she was using. Most likely, it’s a Whip Technique.

With that, the battle intensifies even further. Wounds, big and small, cover Fran’s entire body the more time passes. The power of the whip clad in magic power using Whip Techniques is terrific, and while Fran is barely able to evade them, she’s being damaged by the wind pressure.

Still, I’m not too worried. The day we met Amanda, we went to look up information on her. Right off the bat, we found that she was a good person in general, and was good-natured through and through.

To begin with, Amanda has managed an orphanage for more that 30 years. There’re nearly 500 people in the current Aressa who came from said orphanage, making her well-loved by many.

When Cobweb was still active near Aressa in the past, Adventurers flourished. Because of that, the number of orphans whose Parents died while adventuring also rose, and the guards weren’t exactly the kindest, either. At 20 years old, Amanda (only a D Rank at the time) extended a helping hand out to such children.

Casting her materials aside, she built an orphanage to educate and bring up any orphans she could find. Nowadays there’s plenty of help from people around town, and the management of the orphanage is favorable as well, but… Back then it would have been painful to smile through it all.

Furthermore, regarding the Title ‘Guardian of Children’, to obtain it you not only have to save children, but be loved by them as well. It’s said to be a Title that would be lost upon enacting any inappropriate behavior.

Amanda, possessing such a Title, would obviously be a good friend for Fran, who is a child herself.

Perhaps, so long as they’re both mutually satisfied, then it’s of no consequence whether injuries are inflicted in this battle… Or maybe, it’s because all of these wounds aren’t inflicted with malicious intent.

「Ha!」
「Kuu……」

Still, the intensity of this battle is worrisome.

It’s gradually becoming a one-sided battle, with Fran on the defensive.

… Huh? At this rate, isn’t this really bad? Anti-Death prevents instant death, but it isn’t absolute. You could die again immediately if you’re in a Poisoned or Bleeding State.

Should I stop them?

— No, let’s wait and see for a while longer. Fran is intent on landing at least one blow in this battle.

「Now!」

Fran moved. To Amanda, who activated another Whip Technique, she stepped forward by force. At onlooker might see it as desperation, but I know that’s not the case.

「Gu…!」

The whip, thrust forward, scrapes out Fran’s side. Blood dances in the air as it escapes the open wound, but Fran, who pushes her back by force with Wind Magic, advances with a grimace.

「As expected of you!」
「Ha……!」

Using half of her remaining magic, Fran lunges with her whole body. It isn’t a Sword Technique, but its offensive power is probably equivalent to one.

Furthermore, there was no time for Amanda to pull back her whip for the sake of a counterattack.

「Wind・Shield!」

GYyYyan!*

With a high-pitched sound, the blow which had Fran’s whole body invested in it was… Prevented. Wind Magic, which Amanda hadn’t used up until this point, had nullified it. It goes without saying that it was only used because Amanda had been driven into a corner. However, Fran’s aim was to land a single blow. She won’t be satisfied with just this.

And so, Fran released the magic she had reserved: Flare・Blast.

It was launched immediately after defensive magic was used. Even Amanda wouldn’t be able to reactivate a proper defensive measure in time.

『Splendid!』

Throughout the entire battle, I had been chanting Arias with Parallel Thought to see what times I could potentially land a blow, and in my opinion, that was the best timing thus far.

「Kuu!」

*GaGOOOOON*

With Amanda hit directly by Flare・Blast, a great explosion ensued. A cloud of dust, kicked up as though a bomb had detonated, covers the entire area. The ground around us melts, becoming something akin to lava. Just how hot is it, I wonder?

She isn’t dead, right? She’s an A Rank, but the explosion just now was a bit dangerous…… There was a time when I thought so.

What manner of magic would it take for her to remain unscathed? Not only that, to be in perfect condition! No matter how you look at it, this woman’s too far out of the norm! I know that there’s Fire Resistance and all, but to that extent?!

「That was dangerous……」
「Nn…… Regret…ful…」

*dosa*

With that, Fran collapses with a look of vexation. With such excessive bleeding, there’s no question that she had become light-headed. And so, reaching the limit of her endurance, Fran went unconscious on the spot.

『How regretful…… Still, you’ve done well.』

It was good to have fought against this monster of an opponent here. Furthermore, she did it without my assistance.

「Fran! I’m so sorry!」

Amanda approaches the collapsed Fran in a hurry, and takes out a Potion before sprinkling it on Fran. Without a doubt, it’s a first-class Life Potion.

「As a reward for your perseverance you should have landed that strike, but… Grace of the Spirits protected me automatically.」

I see, so it was thanks to Grace of the Spirits. It seems to be a Skill which automatically invalidates damage to a certain degree. It’s an extremely strong Skill, but it has the drawback of needing 24 hours to reuse.

Fran might be unconvinced, but I think that her strike was definitely a good one, one that invoked the absolute defense of her opponent.

Well, for now, rest well. As for the watch…… The others can take care of it. Probably.

Ensig:
There’s an Author’s Note here regarding how they changed the typo-correction’s location to the Afterward. Because all of these Raws have their mistakes edited out already, I’ll simply omit the Note.

Kinda feels like she is neglecting the actual power they have <.< (Fran and 'teacher')
His actual worth should lie in the fact that he is a weapon that can ACTUALLY fight independently.
Instead of having her, 'even for the experience' fight around without him doing anything but maybe 1 spell or just letting her do whatever… what they should be working on is a full-blown wombo-combo team battle experience. There is so many possiblities with the fact that his even able to move around by himself. Seriously <.< i feel like the author kinda made the mc weak by having him get so attached to her, even though i do like her, but she kinda feels like a stupid burden.

He’s trying to get Fran to be independent and earn some experience. It’s a kin to a 10 year old getting an all mighty laser, yeah he can instantly kill everyone with it, but the moment that laser gets taken away, he’s just meat.

His “solo” fighting style is quite ineffective: using magic just to move… if he encounters an opponent that can seal his magic he will insta-die, he is a sword, as such hes best paired with a wielder. Our kitty is weak right now so she doesn’t look like much making our mc .. boring ( side-character-ish)… but she gains bonuses from titles so once she reaches stronger level their combination will be a force to be reckon with.

If she can fight on a higher level independently and can use more of what the sword can do even without the help of their cooperation the strength of their final cooperation will only be more powerful. Remember, this is sparring, so this is for the purpose of improving. Currently, Teacher is too heavy on the weight of the team’s total power scales, so Fran getting better to balance things out is something to celebrate rather than complain about. Right now Fran is learning to wield the sword instead of “be wielded” by the sword.

I hope that after observing this fight, everyone in the raid party will shut their lips and accept Fran’s strength. Though, considering that Clad (the idiot whom Fran knocked out) was knocked out, he might have not even seen their fight…

And… Maybe. I’m actually thinking of reworking the series itself. Like… Changing the Skill Windows into JPEGs so that different platforms can all see them as intended n’ stuff. There’s also a couple other big changes I want to make, as to make the MC more of the character than I originally envisioned.

Well, obviously, just a short while ago she was a weak little kid with no power whatsoever and all of a sudden she can put up a somewhat nice fight against the most powerful adventurer in the neighborhood and invoke her absolute defense by herself. I’d say she’s done well enough. Really soon she will fight on equal ground with Amanda and soon after she will surely easily surpass her.

Then we can consider that our dear sword didn’t actually help at all from what I gathered. If he had spent like 2000mana to sharpen his attack power he would be at like 4600attack power and some of the best swords on the market seems to be around 500-600atk. If he helped with magic I have no doubt they would be able to defeat her by surprise or something even now.